Machine for enclosing letters in envelopes



4 Sheets-Sheet 1 H. CLARE Oct. 29, 1935,

MACHINE FOR .ENCLOSING LETTERS IN ENVELOPES Filed Oct. 8, 19

Oct. 29, 1935. H. CLARE MACHINE FOR ENCLOSING LETTERS IN ENVELOPES Filed Oct. 8, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 29, 1935. H. CLARE MACHINE FOR ENCLOSING LETTERS IN ENVELOPES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 8, 1931 In venfor': flrmmm; 670/ f Oct. 29, 1935. H. CLARE 2,019,211

MACHINE FOR ENCLOSING LETTERS IN ENVELOPES' Filed Oct. 8. 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Oct. 29, 1935 UNHTE STATES main MACIHNE FOR ENCLOSING LETTERS IN ENVELOPES Hermann Clare, Bern, Switzerland Application October 8, 1931, Serial No. 567,686 In Germany March 25, 1931 8 Claims.

The subject of the present invention is a machine for enclosing letters, documents and the like in their envelopes or wrappers and particularly of documents which have already been folded in envelopes provided with gummed flaps.

The machine is provided with a number of devices, viz. devices:

1. For loosening the envelopes contained in a pile in a container.

2. For separating and loosening the envelope flap.

3. For the partial opening out of this flap.

4. For the complete opening out of the flap and withdrawing an envelope from the pile. l5 5. For passing the envelope on to a tongued plate.

6. For widely opening the envelope.

'7. For inserting the document into the envelope.

8. For applying the envelope with its enclosure to a device for moistening the gummed portion.

9. For moistening the gummed portion.

10. For closing the flap and ejecting the closed envelope.

In the accompanying drawings is illustrated an example of construction of a machine according to the present invention, in some of the figures portions are omitted for the sake of clearness.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic side elevation of the parts after removing one wall of the framework and in the receiving position of the moistening device.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the introducing side of the machine.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the moistening device in the delivery position.

Figures 4, 5, and 6 are detail views of parts used for opening out the flap of the envelope.

Figure '7 is a detail view of the arrangement of a cam disc used for opening out the flap.

Figure 8 is a similar view of the cam disc used for the moistening device.

Figure 9 is a plan of a drum used for the mois- 45 t-ening device in the position according to Figure 1.

Figure 10 is a similar view of a detail of this drum.

Figure 11 shows another view of a detail of the 50 drum, and

Figures 12 and 13 are side elevations of stop devices provided on the drum shaft.

Figures 14 to illustrate several successive positions of the envelope and of the parts han- 55 dling the same.

In connection with the illustration in Figure 1 it is to be observed that always two envelopes are being operated upon at the same time in the machine, one being delivered whilst the other is being inserted. 5

According to the drawings the frame of the machine consists of two side walls I, l a base plate 2 and a cover plate 3. The drive is effected by an electric motor 4 which drives the actual driving shaft 1 of the machine, carrying the 10 main cam discs, through the medium of worm gearing 5 and intermediate shaft 6. The envelopes 8 to be operated upon are arranged vertically. in a pile in a kind of cage which is formed by an inclined end plate 9 secured between the 16 side walls of the frame and by six wires l0 extending therefrom, the latter being so'inclined that the envelopes are fed forward towards the end plate by a pusher plate I2 running on rollers H provided with ball bearings. A lower edge of 20 the pusher plate is bent over in order, if necessary, to increase the pushing force of the plate by means of weights placed thereon. The rollers I I are mounted in lugs fixed to the plate 12 and run freely upon the two upper inclined wires ID the weighted plate IZexerting a constant slight push against the pile of envelopes. The envelopes have their gummed closing flaps on the side of the end plate and a cutaway portion IS in this plate permits of the unobstructed opening of the flap of the front envelope. In addition at least the two lowermost wires of the cage are bent upwardly at It in such a manner that the envelopes at this point are separated at their upper edges in the form of a fan and thus enable 85 the front envelope to be separately withdrawn with certainty. Directly above the front envelope is mounted a small shaft l5 to which is secured a sheet metal strip [6, about an inch wide, which on the rotation of the shaft passes over the upper edges of the envelope and bends this back in such a manner that the flap of the front envelope projects somewhat from the envelope so that two fingers IT suspended on the end plate underneath the shaft engage under the projecting flap of the first envelope by means of their points bent over the cut out portion l3 when swinging upwardly towards the envelope, in the position illustrated in Figures 2 and 4 and can turn the flap through about 40. The actuation of these fingers and 5c of the shaft i5 is effected from the shaft 7 by means of a cam disc l8, the rod l9 and the toothedsector 20, which latter when descending moves by means of the pinion 2i, mounted on the Shaft IS, the strip l6 and by means of two cams 22 the fingers ll. At the very moment when the flap of the envelope has been projected outward by the strip E5 the cams 22 will strike the edge of the fingers 2'! so as to produce a rapid swinging movement of the fingers which will be engaged under the flap to turn it upwards as stated in the above.

In front of the end plate 9 is provided a roller 25, engaged by a forked arm 23 mounted in the frame and guided in a slot 24, which at the same time as the toothed segment 28 is moved upwards from its lowermost position 25 until it comes into contact with the roller 26 constantly rotating in the direction of the arrow. During this movement, as is shown for an intermediate position in Figure 5, it moves with it the flap of the envelope and brings it between it and the roller 26. This roller is constantly rotated from the driving shaft 1 by means of a drive of which only the pulley 28' on the roller 26 is shown. The flap is thus gripped and is moved upwardly together with the envelope by the two rollers 25, 26, which now rotate together, in order to be delivered to the devices for opening the envelope as widely as possible and for inserting the letters Figs. 14 and 15. The separate drive of the forked arm 23 and of the roller 25 by means of the link I9 (Fig. 7 will be described hereinafter in greater detail.

The said devices for opening the envelope in order to effect a certain insertion of the letter 8' and the supply device for the letter 8 are provided in the upper portion of the frame. The letters 8 are folded on the cover plate 3, which serves as a folding table, and are inserted between the two endless supply bands 21. These folding and delivery devices, however, do not form any part of the invention and will, therefore, not be further described.

The supply bands 2! for the letters 8' are arranged vertically. The folded letters are inserted therein from the top and are guided by two stationary funnel shaped plates 28, 28 at their edges projecting laterally from the bands. The plates 28, 28 are held stationary by strips not shown attached to their edges and to the two side walls I, l The bands only take up a limited middle portion of the space available between the side walls I I so as to leave room for the two upper blades 29', extending laterally to the whole width of the envelope, of a tongue shaped plate 29 extending downwardly and which at its upper end is held pivotally by means of a shaft 29 and actuated by a cam disc, not shown. Plate 29 is soldered to the shaft 29 This plate is provided at the top with a cut out portion in which space is provided for the supply bands (Figure 2). Whilst the upper rollers 21 guiding the bands and subjected to the action of springs 21 are mounted in the side walls I, I and are driven by toothed wheels, not shown, the ,lower rollers 21 are driven and are held in position by two arms 21 mounted in the frame and above the shaft 29 The upper width of the tongue shaped plate corresponds accurately with the internal width of the envelope and is for the purpose when entering the envelope to adjust this accurately laterally.

In addition to the tongue shaped plate 29 an S-shaped plate 3|, cut out at the middle to a point, is so suspended in lateral pins 3H held in lugs projecting from the arms 21 that in the vertical position of the tongue shaped plate as shown in Figure 1 it bears closely against this and thus bends the upwardly directed flap of the envelope backwards when this appears through the rollers 25, 26 and thus holds the envelope wide open.

For supporting the opening of the envelope there is provided near the shaft 29 on a fixed transverse bar 32, a five-pronged rake 32' of which the outer prongs, however, extend somewhat beyond the others so that the tongue shaped plate entering the envelope and bearing from the inside against the flap wall of the envelope somewhat curves this wall outwardly when pressing against the rake and thus'opens the envelope as wide as possible. This tongue shaped plate 29 which has swung from its delivery position as shown in Fig. 19 into a vertical receiving position, carries out a short outward movement, as indicated by dotted lines, beyond its vertical position whereby the s-shaped plate 3| remains bearing against the tongue shaped plate solely under the action of gravity and thus always holds the flap bent somewhat outwardly. The rollers 25, 26 according to Fig. 14 have introduced the end of the flap 8 between the plate 9 and the rake 32'. In Fig. 15 the plate 29 having accomplished its short swinging movement has pushed the flap somewhat aside and has entered into the envelope and according to Fig. 16 the envelope which has been conveyed all the while upwards by the rollers 25, 26 is fully inside of the envelope holding it wide open. The conveying movement of the supply bands has then released the letter 8' guided by the funnel shaped plates 28, 28 and has passed this between the tongue shaped plate and the S-shaped plate into the envelope. The envelope has been moved by the rollers 25, 26 into its uppermost position Fig. 16 and the wide portion of the tongue shaped plate has filled the envelope thus ensuring that the letter 8' can pass completely into the envelope Fig. 17. The envelope, which has now been released by the rollers 25, 26 rests with its lowermost edge in the wedge shaped slot formed by the upper halves of the rollers. When the envelope is fitted on the plates 29 and 3| the point of the flap of the envelope moves into the pointed out out portion 3| of this plate and will thus cling thereto, so that the point of the flap is prevented from rolling up.

Above the shaft 29 a holder 34 is held by a spring 34' against a stop 39 in such a position that when the tongue shaped plate swings upwardly into the chain dotted position for delivering the envelope with the enclosure to the moistening device it bears against the envelope and holds this during this movement Fig. 18. In order to enable this upward swinging to take place the roller 25 in the path of the tongue shaped plate has been somewhat lowered by reason of the particular shape of the cam disc 23,

Figure 7, which swings it outwardly. Whilst the guide roller 23 of this disc runs on the periphery of larger radius a of the disc rotating in the di rection of the arrow the roller 25 is in its uppermost position and conveys the envelope upwardly. The disc is provided at the end of the periphery of larger diameter with a small recess 1) which causes the roller 25 to descend a small amount at the moment at which the envelope which still rests in the upper indentation formed by the two rollers, is carried away by the tongue shaped plate 29 now swinging outwardly in the direction of the arrow. Diuing the downward movement of the guide roller 23 into the large recess 0 of the cam disc the roller 25 again descends to its lowermost position 25 in order to completely open out the flap of the succeeding envelope.

The outward swinging of the shaft 29 with the tongue shaped plate and the envelope held thereon now brings the plate into the position shown at 29 Fig. 19. The path traversed by the lowermost edge of the envelope is indicated by 8" in Figure 1, the holder 34 being moved therewith and the S-shaped plate swings into the position shown by broken lines against a stop 33 always holding the flap underneath it. This is the position in which the envelope is delivered to the device for moistening the gummed portion of the flap. During the outward swinging of the shaft 29 with the tongue shaped plate the holder 34 prevents premature slipping of the envelope with its contents from the plate against the rollers of the'drum of the moistening device. This drum appertaining to the moistening device consists, according to Figures 1, 3, and 9, of two lateral circular plates 35 which are connected together by a sheet metal segment 36 coated with felt strips 36, corresponding with the shape of the flap gumming, and two rods 31. To each of the latter are secured five guide strips 38 between which the envelope is adapted to be passed from two rollers 39 and 49 located between the circular discs 35. The roller 39 is mounted in a stationary position between the circular discs, whilst the roller 40 at the moment at which the envelope moved by the tongue shaped plate swings into the position 29 moves into the position 40 in a curved guide 40' provided in one of the 'circular discs 35 in order to permit of the passage of the envelope and then directly afterwards to again bear against the roller 39 under the action of a spring 40 (Figure 3). At this moment a corrugated roller fixed to the end of roller 39 passes a corrugated rubber roller 39 (Figures 1 and 9), shown in Figure 1 and mounted on the corresponding side wall I of the frame,-and acquires by friction a periodic rotation which it imparts to the rollers 39 and 40 and thus moves the envelope held between the two rollers between the guide strips 38 until it bears against the movable rod 4| Fig. 20. In order to enable this to occur the holder 34 has been raised for a moment, by a cam disc not shown, in order then to immediately return with the tongue shaped plate into the position shown in Figure 1. The envelope is now held between the guide strips away from the rollers 39, 40 whilst the flap projects on the outer side of the drum. For the sake of clearness this position of the envelope is not shown in Figure 1.

The remaining construction of the moistening device has the following parts:

The drive, shown in Figures 9, 12, and 13, is effected from the shaft 1 by toothed wheel gearing. The toothed wheel 42 is loosely fitted on the shaft 35 of the drum and turns in the same manner as the drum in a clockwise direction. On the drum shaft are also keyed a locking disc 43 and a driving disc 44. The former is provided with a releasing pin 43' and a spring 43 of which the pin releases a pawl 43 engaging in the notches 43 under the action of a spring 43 rotatably mounted on the corresponding side wall I of the frame in that it strikes against a lateral lug 43 of the pawl. The driving disc 44, on the contrary, is provided with a pawl 44 rotatably mounted on the toothed wheel 42 which under the action of the spring 44 engages with the teeth 44 of the driving disc as soon as it is released from the releasing pin 44 provided on the side wall I. The arrangement is such that the release of the pawl half rotation according to the receiving position 10 (Figure 1) and the ejecting position (Figure 3) of the drum.

The arrangement for moving the roller 49 for .the purpose of setting free the path for the envelope 8 (Figure 1) is shown in Figures 1, 3, 8, 9, l5

and 10. The shafts of the roller 49 pass through the slots 40 in the two circular discs 35 on the outer side thereof and are there rotatably mounted by means of lugs 46 loosely mounted on the drum shaft and rigidly connected together by a 20 transverse rod 45. This is shown in Figure 10 for one side of the drum. On the other side, according to Figures 1, 3, and 9, the lug is provided on a hub with a ratchet disc 46'; having two teeth 46 and rigidly connected to the corre- 26 sponding lug, with which can engage a pawl 46, held in contact with the ratchet disc by the spring 46 so that when an arm 41, carrying this pawl and loosely mounted on the drum shaft,

swings outwardly it swings outwardly the corre- 30 sponding lug and thus the roller 40, against the spring 40 (Figure 3) into its position 40 according to Figure 1, or into the position according to Figure 3, by the rods 48, 49 and the cam disc 60 keyed to the shaft 1 and by the ratchet disc 46. 35

The spring 46 overcomes the action of the spring 40 The shaping of the cam disc 60 is such that by the cam a there is produced the large swinging movement of the roller 40 into the position 49 and thereupon after inserting the en- 40 velope 8, but before this has touched the transverse rod 4|, a smaller swinging of the roller is produced by the cam b in order to release the envelope until it engages with the transverse rod 4i and thus to prevent a crinkling or collapsing of 45 the envelope. As now the drum carries out its half revolution in a clockwise direction and turns from the position in Figure 1 into the position in Figure 3 the lugs 46 are also moved and the rollers 39, 40 are closed automatically until in the 50 delivery position (Figure 3) the roller 40 is opened for the last time by the cam c in order to give the transverse rod 4| an opportunity of ejecting the envelope towards the delivery rollers 5|. rollers now remain closed. Tothe arm 41 there is however imparted between d and a a small temporary rearward swinging by the deep recess e in the cam disc in order to somewhat delay the opening of the rollers by the corresponding cam a. 50

The delivery rollers 50, 5| are arranged relatively to the drum diametrically opposite the tongue shaped plate position 23 and are adapted to eject the gummed envelopes over a plate 53. By

means of a cam disc, not shown, the upper roller 65 56, when ejecting the envelope from the drum through the transverse bar 4! receives a rapid opening movement in order to grip with certainty the front edge of the envelope passing from the drum.

Above these rollers is provided a water trough 54 in which there rotates a roller 55 in order to moisten a rubber roller 56. When the sheet metal segment 36 of the drum passes the rubber roller 56 this roller comes into contact with the 75 Up to the cam d and the large cam a the 55 felt strips 36' (Fig. 9) of the sheet metal segment 3B and moistens these whereupon these felt strips when passing a roller 51 arranged underneath the drum and subjected to spring action, also moisten the flap of the envelope which has been moved by the drum rotating into its delivery position, so that when the envelope is ejected from the drum, as indicated in Figure 5, and when passing the rollers 50, the moistened fiap is pressed against the envelope and gummed thereto.

As stated in the above the felt strips 36' of the segment 36 have been moistened and as seen in Fig. 20 the envelope flap is standing out from the drum with its gummed side turned upwards. Now when the drum rotates clockwise from the position in Fig. 20 it will draw the flap through between the segment 35 and the spring pressed rollers 55'! and moisten thereby the gummed portion. When the drum has in its position of Fig. 3 the envelope 8 is turned with the moistened fiap towards the constantly rotated roller 5| and will be pushed by the rod 4| onto the upper side of said roller. As soon as the envelope touches this roller the till now uplifted and spring pressed roller 53 will be dropped down onto the roller 5| and be rotated likewise and the two rollers together will withdraw the envelope from the drum and convey the envelope unto the delivery plate 53 while the flap is pressed firmly on the envelope thereby sealing the letter.

It now remains necessary to explain the means for actuating the transverse rod ii. Figures 1, 3, 9, and 11 serve for this purpose. The arm 41 is before its free end bent at an angle in the direction of rotation of the drum (see All in Figures 9 and 11) so that a pin 58 guided in a bush 58 and held in its ejecting position by a spring 58 when passing the drum is pressed back by this inclined surface and after passing it again snaps back. The bush 58 however is seated at the end of one arm of a rocker 59 pivotally mounted in the circular disc 35 and of which another arm guides by means of a slot 59' the end pivots of the transverse r-od 4| guided in a slot 59 of the circular disc 35. A spring 59 always holds the rocker in the position shown in Figure 1.

As soon as the arm 41, as is the case in Figure 3, can, therefore, engage with its bent portion ll (figure 11) the pin 58, the rocker, as long as the arm follows the drum, which only lasts for a moment, will snap the transverse rod 4| into the position for ejecting the envelope as shown in Figure 3 in order that after leaving the arm 4'! it returns to its normal position in Figure 1 for receiving a. fresh envelope. In the circular disc there is provided a suificiently large recess 35' for the movements of the bush 58'.

t must here also be mentioned that in order to prevent the delivery rollers 50, 5| from simply gripping the envelope at one corner and in order to ensure an accurate and straight guiding of the envelope 8 between the guide strips 38 wedge shaped bars 6! are provided on the inner side of the circular discs 35 so that they limit the envelope in the direction of its width.

In this manner there is obtained that the envelope during its entire passage through the machine is always limited both in length and breadth which, in combination with the circumstance that all the parts of the machine are always moved positively, assists in enabling the machine to rotate at nearly thirty revolutions of the shaft 1 per minute, so that ahigh efficiency is obtained.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in What manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. In a machine for enclosing letters in the folded condition into envelopes provided with gummed flaps a supply cage of the envelopes comprising a feeding device and a rotary device to bend back the upper edge of the foremost envelope, a mechanism cooperating with the cage and said rotary device to open the flap and to seize it between feed rollers, a vertically arranged, feed device for the folded letter, a pivotable plate combination arranged underneath this feed device and above the feed rollers combined with the cage to open the envelope completely and present it to the fed folded letter, a stepwise rotatable moistening device arranged to receive the filled envelope from said plate combination and provided with a moistened surface, a holding member combined with said plate combination to maintain the filled envelope on its way to the moistening device, a press roller cooperating with the rotary moistening device to press the projecting flap against said moistened surface, a water trough with rubber rollers cooperating with the said surface of the moistening device and a pair of delivery rollers cooperating with the moistening device to receive the envelope from this device and effect the closing of the latter.

2. In a machine according to claim 1 the combination of guide-strips provided inside of the drum of the moistening device and edge shaped linings arranged sideways sloping towards the width of the envelope introduced between said strips and adapted to arrange the side edges of the envelope parallel to the ejecting movement of said envelope.

3. A machine for enclosing letters in envelopes as stated in claim 1, in which the supply cage comprises an inclined front plate with a cutaway portion leaving free the fiap of the foremost envelope, a number of inclined upwardly arched wires attached to said plate and enclosing the envelopes sideways and at their bottom edge and in which the feed device combined with said cage comprises a weighted pusher plate suspended on rollers adapted to roll on the inclined upper side Wires.

4. A machine for enclosing letters in envelopes as set forth in claim 1 in which the rotary device comprises a sheet metal strip secured toa rotary shaft carrying a pinion and extended over the upper edges of the foremost envelopes a toothed segment meshing with said pinion, a cam disc mounted on a driving shaft, and a lever and link arrangement engaged by said cam disc and connected to said toothed segment.

5. A machine for enclosing letters in envelopes as stated in claim 1 in which the flap opening device comprises a pair of fiat fingers with curved points hinged to the front plate of the cage and formed to enter between the envelope and the slightly projecting flap, a rotary shaft extended over the upper edge of the front plate and a pinion and two cams fast to said shaft, said cams engaged into indentations of said fingers, a toothed segment meshing with said pinion, a cam disc fixed to a driving shaft, and a lever and link arrangement engaged by said disc and connected with said toothed segment.

6. A machine for enclosing letters in envelopes as stated in claim 1 in which the envelope feeding device comprises a first stationary roller provided with a driving sprocket and a second rotatably supported roller adapted to cooperate with the first, vertical guides in the face of said supply cage to guide the shaft ends of the second roller, forked pivotally supported arms to guide the shaft ends of said second roller, a cam disc mounted on a driving shaft, a lever and link arrangement operatively connecting said driving shaft with said forked arms.

7. A machine for enclosing letters in envelopes as stated in claim 1 in which the pivotable plate combination comprises a vertical and swingingly suspended tongue-shaped plate and a tongueshaped plate bent like an elongated S leaning wedge-like with its recessed end against the first plate, both plates adapted to enter into the upwards moving envelopes, a cooperatively arranged rake formed as a hollow grip to lean against the front of the envelope, stationary funnel-shaped plates arranged above said tongue-shaped plates as guides of a letter to be introduced into the open envelope, a swingingly arranged holding member to bear on the back side of the envelope and an operating mechanism including a cam, levers and links and operatively combined with the driving shaft to swing the pivotable plates carrying the filled envelope into reach of the moistening device.

8. A machine for enclosing letters in an envelope as stated in claim 1 in which the structure of the moistening device comprises a rotary drum between the receiving point of the filled but unmoistened envelopes and delivery rollers for ejecting the ready closed letter, said rotary drum comprising two circular side plates mounted, on a rotatable axis, a segment plate carrying felt strips shaped according to the gummed border of the flap, and two rods connecting said plates, a driving disc combined with a pawl to mark two steps for one revolution, and a corresponding locking disc, both discs fast on said axis, a pair of rotatably mounted in feed rollers diametrically opposite the said two rods, one of said rollers ar- 15 ranged stationary and the other swingingly to open and close on the first, guide strips attached to said two rods and a movable rod arranged between the said fast rods to serve as ejecting means for the envelope introduced between said guidestrip's, a stationary rubber roller mounted on one of the circular side plates of the drum and a corresponding roller mounted on a trunnion of the stationary in feed roller to rotate said station- 25 ary roller when coming in contact with the same.

HERMANN CLARE. 

